Your Right to Know

Lawmakers are moving quickly to close a loophole in state law that exempts students using
tax-funded vouchers to attend private schools from the third-grade reading requirement.

Under a provision tucked into an off-year budget bill passed by the House this week, voucher
students — like public-school youngsters — would be held back if they don’t pass the state’s new
third-grade reading test.

The Third Grade Reading Guarantee aims to end social promotion and ensure that all students are
reading at grade level before moving to the fourth grade.

Gov. John Kasich, who pushed for the reading requirement, and Republican legislative leaders,
who supported the policy, said they had not intended to leave out voucher students.

“When the issue came up, we all looked at one another. It had never come up,” said Colleen
Grady, education-policy adviser for House Republicans.

“The consensus was that this was an issue that should be addressed, and the (budget bill) was
seen as an opportunity” to correct the mistake.

The action comes a month after
The Dispatch reported that voucher students had been exempted from the law. A little more
than 36 percent of voucher students — almost 1,200 — failed last fall’s reading test and would face
retention if they didn’t improve their score on the assessment, which will be given again this
month and in July.

That’s slightly higher than the 1 in 3 third-graders in public schools facing retention this
year.

Catholic schools — where about 70 percent of voucher students attend — supported expanding the
requirement to some of its students.

“Students receiving education-choice vouchers are benefiting from state dollars, and with state
money comes accountability,” said Larry Keough of the Catholic Conference of Ohio.

While many state regulations do not pertain to private schools or the students who attend them,
lawmakers have the option of applying the reading guarantee to voucher students.

Under the House provision, voucher students will be subject to the reading requirement beginning
in the 2015-2016 school year, a year after public-school students.

The requirement will not apply to private-school students not using vouchers.

The budget bill is now under review in the Senate, where the provision also is expected to
receive wide support.

Ohio School Superintendent Richard A. Ross said the reading guarantee has pushed schools to
redouble their efforts to ensure that students are reading at grade level by the end of third
grade.

“Some people would like to wring their hands and say this won’t happen,” Ross said. “That’s
unacceptable ...